Well before he was President Donald Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Labor, R. Alexander Acosta served on the National Labor Relations Board and participated in more than 120 opinions issued in 2002 and 2003. So for insights into what kind of Labor Secretary he may be if confirmed, attorneys Philip B. Rosen, Howard M. Bloom and Linda R. Carlozzi of the law firm Jackson Lewis examined those opinions and Acosta’s role in shaping them.
“Acosta appears to have taken a middle-of-the-road approach to labor relations during his time on the Board,” they say.
In addition to his opinions, Acosta wrote a law review article calling for more clarity from the NLRB.
As the attorneys put it, “Acosta advocated for more NLRB rulemaking because of what he calls the NLRB’s ‘case-law oscillation’ and ‘flip-flops,’ most notably on the issue of non-union employees’ right to representation at an investigatory interview…”
